An amplifier with a low offset

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to an amplifier according to the preamble of Claims 1 2 and 5, the preamble of Claim 1 being known from EP-A-0 073 353.

[0002] "Buffer" or separation amplifiers, that is, amplifiers in which the input circuit is fairly insensitive to variations in the load impedance, are used in many circuit systems. A buffer amplifier is consequently used when a signal generated by a circuit with high output impedance has to control a load with low impedance, such as a capacitor with a large capacitance, if the control signal is of high frequency, or a resistor with low resistance.

[0003] A simple known buffer amplifier is shown in Figure 1 of the appended drawings. It is constituted by two complementary bipolar transistors one of npn type, indicated Q1, and one of pnp type, indicated Q2, connected in a push-pull arrangement between the two poles, that is, the positive pole, indicated vdd, and the negative pole, indicated gnd, of a voltage supply. The bases of the two transistors are joined together to form the input terminal IN of the amplifier and the connection point between the two emitters is the output terminal OUT of the amplifier. A circuit with a high output impedance connected to the input IN of the amplifier is represented by a high-frequency alternating-voltage generator vi and by a resistor Ri in series, and a low impedance load is represented by a capacitor C. In operation, the two transistors behave alternately like an amplifier with a common collector (an emitter follower) during the positive half-wave and during the negative half-wave of the input signal, respectively, so that the circuit has all of the characteristics of an amplifier of this type, amongst which is a low output impedance.

[0004] The known circuit described above has an "offset", that is, a deviation between the output voltage level and the input voltage level, which is substantially equal to the voltage drop at the forward biased base-emitter junction of the npn transistor or of the pnp transistor. The offset causes a distortion of the signal, known as "cross-over distortion" in the case of sinusoidal input signals, which is more notable the smaller the input signal. Moreover, the voltage drop at the forward biased base-emitter junction varies from one specimen of the same integrated circuit in which the "buffer" is formed to another, because of the inevitable variations in the processing parameters, and also varies with the operating temperature.

[0005] There are applications in which the supply voltage of the circuit is low, so that the signals to be processed are also of low level, or in which the variability of the offset creates serious problems in the design of the circuits downstream of the amplifier.

[0006] An object of the present invention is therefore to propose an amplifier of the type defined in the preambles of Claims 1, 2 or 5 which has a very low or even zero offset.

[0007] This object is achieved, according to the invention, by the provision of an amplifier as defined and characterized in Claims 1 2, or 5.

[0008] The invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof given with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is the circuit diagram of a known amplifier,

Figure 2 is the circuit diagram of an amplifier according to the invention, and

Figure 3 shows a variant of the circuit of Figure 2.

[0009] The amplifier of Figure 2 has a driver stage and an output stage connected in cascade with one another between the input terminal IN and the output terminal OUT of the amplifier. The output stage is constituted by two complementary bipolar transistors Q1 and Q2 connected in a push-pull arrangement, as in the known amplifier of Figure 1, and the driver stage comprises a pnp transistor Q5 and an npn transistor Q6 of which the collectors are connected together to the emitters of the transistors Q1 and Q2, that is, to the output terminal OUT of the amplifier and the bases are connected together to the input terminal IN of the amplifier. The emitter of Q5, which constitutes an output of the driver stage, is connected to the base of the npn transistor Q1 of the output stage and, by means of a constant-current generator G2, to the positive terminal of the supply, indicated vdd. The emitter of Q6, which constitutes a further output of the driver stage, is connected to the base of the pnp transistor Q2 of the output stage and to the collector of an npn transistor Q4 the emitter of which is connected to the negative supply terminal, indicated gnd.

[0010] The transistor Q4 constitutes the output branch of a current-mirror circuit the input branch of which is formed by a diode-connected pnp transistor Q3 and having its emitter connected to the base of Q4 and to the positive supply terminal vdd by means of a constant-current generator G1.

[0011] The offset Vos of the amplifier will now be considered upon the assumption that both the npn transistors and the pnp transistors are identical to one another, and that the generators G1 and G2 generate an identical current I. By definition, if the voltages at the input IN and at the output OUT are indicated Vin and Vout, respectively,

[0012] Clearly, the transistors Q3 and Q4 of the current mirror have identical base-emitter voltages

[0013] If the base current of Q2 is ignored and it is borne in mind that the transistors Q6 and Q4 are two identical npn transistors through which the same current flows,

[0014] If it is borne in mind that Q5 and Q3 are identical pnp transistors and that the currents supplied by the current generators G1 and G2 are identical,

[0015] It can be deduced from the equations given above that the transistors Q5, Q6, Q3 and Q4 have the same base-emitter voltage Vbe.

[0016] It can also be seen that

and that the following equation is true for the collector currents of the transistors Q5, Q6, Q1 and Q2, if their base currents are ignored,

[0017] With the use of the known relationship which links the collector current of a transistor to its base-emitter voltage, equation (2) can be written

where Isn and Isp are constants which describe the transfer characteristics of the npn and pnp transistors, respectively, in the active region, V_T is the so-called thermal voltage and "exp" indicates that the expression which follows it is the exponent of the number e (the base of the natural logarithms).

[0018] It can be shown that the system of equations formed by equations (1) and (3) is solved upon the assumption that

from which

[0019] With reference to the result obtained above regarding the equality of the base-emitter voltages of Q3, Q4, Q5 and Q6, it is concluded that the base-emitter voltages of all of the transistors of the circuit are equal. It is clear, therefore, that the offset of the amplifier is always zero:

or

[0020] It is therefore clear that the operation of the amplifier is not affected by any variations of the base-emitter voltages with temperature and that different specimens of the amplifier, of which the transistors show differences in the base-emitter voltages because of the variability of the manufacturing parameters, have an identical response.

[0021] These results are achieved in the ideal conditions indicated above, that is, if the npn transistors, as well as the pnp transistors, are identical to one another, if the base currents of Q1 and Q2 are negligible, and if the currents of the generators G1 and G2 are identical. However, even significant deviations from these ideal conditions have little effect on the behaviour of the circuit. In fact, the offset is in any case always very low because it is equal to the difference between two Vbe values which, although they relate to transistors of different types, one npn and the other pnp, are very similar. For the same reason, the offset differences between different specimens of the same circuit are minimal. With regard to the variations of the offset due to temperature, these are also very limited, since their effects on the Vbe values of the npn transistors and of the pnp transistors are of opposite signs so that the variations tend to cancel one another out.

[0022] A variant of the circuit of Figure 2 is shown in Figure 3, in which the same components are indicated by the same reference symbols and equivalent components are indicated by the same symbols with the addition of a prime. As can be seen, the current-mirror circuit is constituted by transistors complementary to those of the circuit shown in Figure 2 and is connected to the emitter of Q5 instead of the emitter of Q6.

[0023] According to another variant, not shown, n-channel and p-channel field-effect transistors are used instead of the npn and pnp bipolar transistors, respectively, their source, drain and gate terminals replacing the emitter, collector and base terminals, respectively. In this case, remarks wholly analogous to those given above can be made with regard to the threshold voltages of the n-channel or p-channel transistors instead of to the base-emitter voltages.

[0024] Although the invention has been described with reference to an amplifier for use as a buffer, particularly in high-frequency applications, it can clearly also be used advantageously in other fields of application, more precisely, in all those fields in which it is useful to have an amplifier with an offset which is as low as possible and independent of temperature.

Claims

1. An amplifier comprising a driver stage and an output stage connected in cascade between an input terminal (IN) and an output terminal (OUT) of the amplifier,

the output stage comprising a first npn transistor (Q1) and a second pnp transistor (Q2) connected in a push-pull arrangement with one another, with their emitters connected together to the output terminal (OUT) of the amplifier and with their collectors connected, respectively, to a first supply terminal (vdd) and to a second supply terminal (gnd) of the amplifier, which are intended to be connected, respectively, to the positive and negative poles of a supply,

the driver stage having two output terminals connected, respectively, to the base of the first transistor (Q1) and to the base of the second transistor (Q2),

wherein the driver stage comprises a current-mirror circuit having an input branch comprising a third transistor (Q3) connected in series with a first constant-current generator (G1) between the first and second supply terminals (vdd, gnd) and an output second supply terminals (vdd, gnd) and an output branch comprising a fourth transistor (Q4), as well as a fifth pnp transistor (Q5) and a sixth npn transistor (Q6) with their collectors connected together to the output terminal (OUT) of the amplifier and their bases connected together to the input terminal (IN) of the amplifier, the emitter of the fifth transistor (Q5) being connected to the first supply terminal (vdd) by means of a second constant-current generator (G2) and the emitter of the sixth transistor (Q6) being connected to the second supply terminal (gnd) by means of the output branch (Q4) of the current-mirror circuit, the emitters of the fifth (Q5) and sixth (Q6) transistors also being connected, respectively, to the base of the first transistor (Q1) and to the base of the second transistor (Q2),
characterized in that the third transistor (Q3) is a pnp transistor and the fourth transistor (Q4) is an npn transistor.

2. An amplifier comprising a driver stage and an output stage connected in cascade between an input terminal (IN) and an output terminal (OUT) of the amplifier,

the output stage comprising a first npn transistor (Q1) and a second pnp transistor (Q2) connected in a push-pull arrangement with one another, with their emitters connected together to the output terminal (OUT) of the amplifier and with their collectors connected, respectively, to a first supply terminal (vdd) and to a second supply terminal (gnd) of the amplifier, which are intended to be connected, respectively, to the positive and negative poles of a supply,

the driver stage having two output terminals connected, respectively to the base of the first transistor (Q1) and to the base of the second transistor (Q2),

wherein the driver stage comprises a current-mirror circuit having an input branch comprising a third transistor (Q3') connected in series with a first constant-current generator (G1') between the first and second supply terminals (vdd, gnd) and an output branch comprising a fourth transistor (Q4'), as well as a fifth pnp transistor (Q5) and a sixth npn transistor (Q6) with their collectors connected together to the output terminal (OUT) of the amplifier and their bases connected together to the input terminal (IN) of the amplifier, the emitter of the sixth transistor (Q6) being connected to the second supply terminal (gnd) by means of a second constant-current generator (G2') and the emitter of the fifth transistor (Q5) being connected to the first supply terminal (vdd) by means of the output branch (Q4') of the current-mirror circuit, the emitters of the fifth (Q5) and sixth (Q6) transistors also being connected, respectively, to the base of the first transistor (Q1) and to the base of the second transistor (Q2),
characterized in that the third transistor (Q3') is an npn transistor and the fourth transistor (Q4') is a pnp transistor.

3. An amplifier according to Claim 1, in which the first, fourth, and sixth npn transistors (Q1, Q4, Q6) are substantially identical to one another, the second, third and fifth pnp transistors (Q2, Q3, Q5) are substantially identical to one another and the currents generated by the first and the second constant-current generators (G1,G2) are substantially identical.

4. An amplifier according to Claim 2, in which the first, third, and sixth npn transistors (Q1, Q3', Q6) are substantially identical to one another, the second, fourth, and fifth pnp transistors (Q2, Q4', Q5) are substantially identical to one another and the currents generated by the first and the second constant-current generators (G1', G2') are substantially identical.

5. An amplifier according to any one of the preceding claims, in which n-channel field-effect transistors are provided instead of the npn transistors and p-channel field-effect transistors are provided instead of the pnp transistors, the emitters, collectors and bases of the npn and pnp transistors being replaced by the source, drain and gate electrodes of the n-channel and p-channel field-effect transistors, respectively.

Ansprüche

1. Ein Verstärker, der eine Treiberstufe und eine Ausgangsstufe umfaßt, die zwischen einen Eingangsanschluß (IN) und einen Ausgangsanschluß (OUT) des Verstärkers in Kaskade geschaltet sind,
wobei die Ausgangsstufe einen ersten npn-Transistor (Q1) und einen zweiten pnp-Transistor (Q2) umfaßt, die in einer Gegentaktschaltung miteinander verbunden sind, wobei die Emitter derselben zusammen mit dem Ausgangsanschluß (OUT) des Verstärkers verbunden sind, und die Kollektoren derselben mit einem ersten Versorgungsanschluß (vdd) beziehungsweise mit einem zweiten Versorgungsanschluß (gnd) des Verstärkers verbunden sind, die vorgesehen sind, um mit dem positiven beziehungsweise negativen Pol einer Versorgung verbunden zu sein,
wobei die Treiberstufe zwei Ausgangsanschlüsse aufweist, die mit der Basis des ersten Transistors (Q1) beziehungsweise der Basis des zweiten Transistors (Q2) verbunden sind,
wobei die Treiberstufe eine Stromspiegelschaltung mit einem Eingangszweig, der einen dritten Transistor (Q3) umfaßt, der mit einem ersten Konstantstromgenerator (G1) zwischen den ersten und den zweiten Versorgungsanschluß (vdd, gnd) in Reihe geschaltet ist, und einen Ausgangszweig, der einen vierten Transistor (Q4) umfaßt, sowie einen fünften pnp-Transistor (Q5) und einen sechsten npn-Transistor (Q6) umfaßt, wobei die Kollektoren derselben zusammen mit dem Ausgangsanschluß (OUT) des Verstärkers verbunden sind, und die Basen derselben zusammen mit dem Eingangsanschluß (IN) des Verstärkers verbunden sind,
wobei der Emitter des fünften Transistors (Q5) mittels eines zweiten Konstantstromgenerators (G2) mit dem ersten Versorgungsanschluß (vdd) verbunden ist, und der Emitter des sechsten Transistors (Q6) mittels des Ausgangszweigs (Q4) der Stromspiegelschaltung mit dem zweiten Versorgungsanschluß (gnd) verbunden ist, wobei die Emitter des fünften (Q5) und des sechsten (Q6) Transistors ebenfalls mit der Basis des ersten Transistors (Q1) beziehungsweise der Basis des zweiten Transistors (Q2) verbunden sind,
gekennzeichnet dadurch, daß der dritte Transistor (Q3) eine pnp-Transistor ist, und der vierte Transistor (Q4) ein npn-Transistor ist.

2. Ein Verstärker, der eine Treiberstufe und eine Ausgangsstufe umfaßt, die zwischen einen Eingangsanschluß (IN) und einen Ausgangsanschluß (OUT) des Verstärkers in Kaskade geschaltet sind,
wobei die Ausgangsstufe einen ersten npn-Transistor (Q1) und einen zweiten pnp-Transistor (Q2) umfaßt, die in einer Gegentaktschaltung miteinander verbunden sind, wobei die Emitter derselben zusammen mit dem Ausgangsanschluß (OUT) des Verstärkers verbunden sind, und die Kollektoren derselben mit einem ersten Versorgungsanschluß (vdd) beziehungsweise mit einem zweiten Versorgungsanschluß (gnd) des Verstärkers verbunden sind, die vorgesehen sind, um mit dem positiven beziehungsweise negativen Pol einer Versorgung verbunden zu sein,
wobei die Treiberstufe zwei Ausgangsanschlüsse aufweist, die mit der Basis des ersten Transistors (Q1) beziehungsweise der Basis des zweiten Transistors (Q2) verbunden sind,
wobei die Treiberstufe eine Stromspiegelschaltung mit einem Eingangszweig, der einen dritten Transistor (Q3') umfaßt, der mit einem ersten Konstantstromgenerator (G1') zwischen den ersten und den zweiten Versorgungsanschluß (vdd, gnd) in Reihe geschaltet ist, und einem Ausgangszweig, der einen vierten Transistor (Q4') umfaßt, sowie einen fünften pnp-Transistor (Q5) und einen sechsten npn-Transistor (Q6) umfaßt, deren Kollektoren mit dem Ausgangsanschluß (OUT) des Verstärkers zusammen verbunden sind, und deren Basen zusammen mit dem Eingangsanschluß (IN) des Verstärkers verbunden sind,
wobei der Emitter des sechsten Transistors (Q6) mittels eines zweiten Konstantstromgenerators (G2') mit dem zweiten Versorgungsanschluß (gnd) verbunden ist, und der Emitter des fünften Transistors (Q5) mittels des Ausgangszweigs (Q4') der Stromspiegelschaltung mit dem ersten Versorgungsanschluß (vdd) verbunden ist, wobei die Emitter des fünften (Q5) und des sechsten (Q6) Transistors ebenfalls mit der Basis des ersten Transistors (Q1) beziehungsweise der Basis des zweiten Transistors (Q2) verbunden sind,
gekennzeichnet dadurch, daß der dritte Transistor (Q3') ein npn-Transistor ist, und der vierte Transistor (Q4') ein pnp-Transistor ist.

3. Ein Verstärker gemäß Anspruch 1, bei dem der erste, vierte und sechste npn-Transistor (Q1, Q4, Q6) im wesentlichen identisch zueinander sind, der zweite, dritte und fünfte pnp-Transistor (Q2, Q3, Q5) im wesentlichen identisch zueinander sind, und die Ströme, die durch den ersten und den zweiten Konstantstromgenerator (G1, G2) erzeugt werden, im wesentlichen identisch sind.

4. Ein Verstärker gemäß Anspruch 2, bei dem der erste, dritte und sechste npn-Transistor (Q1, Q3', Q6) im wesentlichen identisch zueinander sind, der zweite, vierte und fünfte pnp-Transistor im wesentlichen identisch zueinander sind, und die Ströme, die durch den ersten und den zweiten Konstantstromgenerator (G1', G2') erzeugt werden, im wesentlichen identisch sind.

5. Ein Verstärker gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, bei dem statt der npn-Transistoren n-Kanal-Feldeffekttransistoren vorgesehen sind, und statt der pnp-Transistoren p-Kanal-Feldeffekttransistoren vorgesehen sind, wobei die Emitter, Kollektoren und Basen der npn- und pnp-Transistoren durch die Source-, Drain- und Gateelektroden der n-Kanal- bzw. p-Kanal-Transistoren ersetzt sind.

Revendications

1. Amplificateur comprenant un étage d'attaque et un étage de sortie connectés en cascade entre une borne d'entrée (IN) et une borne de sortie (OUT) de l'amplificateur,

l'étage de sortie comprenant un premier transistor npn (Q1) et un second transistor pnp (Q2) connectés l'un à l'autre de façon symétrique, leurs émetteurs étant connectés ensemble à la borne de sortie (OUT) de l'amplificateur et leurs collecteurs étant respectivement connectés à une première borne d'alimentation (vdd) et à une seconde borne d'alimentation (gnd) de l'amplificateur, qui sont destinées à être respectivement connectés aux pôles positif et négatif d'une alimentation,

l'étage d'attaque ayant deux bornes respectivement connectées à la base du premier transistor (Q1) et à la base du second transistor (Q2),

dans lequel l'étage d'attaque comprend un circuit miroir de courant ayant une dérivation d'entrée comprenant un troisième transistor (Q3) connecté en série à un premier générateur de courant constant (G1) entre les première et seconde bornes d'alimentation (vdd, gnd) et une dérivation de sortie comprenant un quatrième transistor (Q4), ainsi qu'un cinquième transistor pnp (Q5) et un sixième transistor npn (Q6), leurs collecteurs étant connectés ensemble à la borne de sortie (OUT) de l'amplificateur et leurs bases étant connectées ensemble à la borne d'entrée (IN) de l'amplificateur, l'émetteur du cinquième transistor (Q5) étant connecté à la première borne d'alimentation (vdd) au moyen d'un second générateur de courant constant (G2) et l'émetteur du sixième transistor (Q6) étant connecté à la seconde borne d'alimentation (gnd) au moyen de la dérivation de sortie (Q4) du circuit miroir de courant, les émetteurs des cinquième (Q5) et sixième (Q6) transistors étant également respectivement connectés à la base du premier transistor (Q1) et à la base du second transistor (Q2),
   caractérisé en ce que le troisième transistor (Q3) est un transistor pnp et en ce que le quatrième transistor (Q4) est un transistor npn.

2. Amplificateur comprenant un étage d'attaque et un étage de sortie connectés en cascade entre une borne d'entrée (IN) et une borne de sortie (OUT) de l'amplificateur ;

l'étage de sortie comprenant un premier transistor npn (Q1) et un second transistor pnp (Q2) connectés l'un à l'autre de façon symétrique, leurs émetteurs étant connectés ensemble à la borne de sortie (OUT) de l'amplificateur et leurs collecteurs étant respectivement connectés à une première borne d'alimentation (vdd) et à une seconde borne d'alimentation (gnd) de l'amplificateur, qui sont destinées à être respectivement connectés aux pôles positif et négatif d'une alimentation,

l'étage d'attaque ayant respectivement deux bornes connectées à la base du premier transistor (Q1) et à la base du second transistor (Q2),

   dans lequel l'étage d'attaque comprend un circuit miroir de courant ayant une dérivation d'entrée comprenant un troisième transistor (Q3) connecté en série à un premier générateur de courant constant (G1') entre les première et seconde bornes d'alimentation (vdd, gnd) et une dérivation de sortie comprenant un quatrième transistor (Q4'), ainsi qu'un cinquième transistor pnp (Q5) et un sixième transistor npn (Q6), leurs collecteurs étant connectés ensemble à la borne de sortie (OUT) de l'amplificateur et leurs bases étant connectées ensemble à la borne d'entrée (IN) de l'amplificateur, l'émetteur du sixième transistor (Q6) étant connecté à la seconde borne d'alimentation (gnd) au moyen d'un second générateur de courant constant (G2'), et l'émetteur du cinquième transistor (Q5) étant connecté à la première borne d'alimentation (vdd) au moyen de la dérivation de sortie (Q4') du circuit miroir de courant, les émetteurs des cinquième (Q5) et sixième (Q6) transistors étant également respectivement connectés à la base du premier transistor (Q1) et à la base du second transistor (Q2),
   caractérisé en ce que le troisième transistor (Q3') est un transistor npn et en ce que le quatrième transistor (Q4') est un transistor pnp.

3. Amplificateur selon la revendication 1, dans lequel les premier, quatrième et sixième transistors npn (Q1, Q4, Q6) sont sensiblement identiques les uns aux autres, les second, troisième et cinquième transistors pnp (Q2, Q3, Q5) sont sensiblement identiques les uns aux autres et les courants générés par les premier et second générateurs de courant constant (G1, G2) sont sensiblement identiques.

4. Amplificateur selon la revendication 2, dans lequel les premier, troisième et sixième transistors npn (Q1, Q3', Q6) sont sensiblement identiques les uns aux autres, les second, quatrième et cinquième transistors pnp (Q2, Q4', Q5) sont sensiblement identiques les uns aux autres et les courants générés par les premier et second générateurs de courant constant (G1', G2') sont sensiblement identiques.

5. Amplificateur selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel des transistors à effet de champ à canal n sont utilisés au lieu des transistors npn, et des transistors à effet de champ à canal p sont utilisés au lieu des transistors pnp, les émetteurs, les collecteurs, et les bases des transistors npn et pnp étant respectivement remplacés par les électrodes de source, de drain et de grille des transistors à effet de champ à canal n et à canal p.

Drawing